Data was generated from a field and lab study to determine the influence of thermal variation in livewells on largemouth bass recovery from angling tournaments. The field study data includes temperature data from inside angler livewells during a tournament day. This was collected across four tournaments. The laboratory data was generated from a series of experiments simulating tournament practices and trends in thermal variation within livewells observed in the field proponent. Following simulation, blood was collected to determine levels of analytes consistent with primary, secondary, and tertiary stress response in largemouth bass. Reflex impairment was also included.